


Life Before The Ground

by Saoirse_Laochra



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: And all that nifty stuff that goes with it, Food Deprivation, Humiliation, Non-Graphic Violence, Non-consensual surgery, Prequel, Violence against teenagers, life on the ark, minor language, reeducation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-11
Updated: 2017-07-11
Packaged: 2018-11-30 22:34:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11473059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saoirse_Laochra/pseuds/Saoirse_Laochra
Summary: Life in the Sky Box, as seen through the eyes of the Hundred. One chapter from each character, along with a chapter each from Bellamy and Raven’s PoV when they visit.Will update the summary as new chapters come up. Will eventually have chapters for each of the characters mentioned in the tags. Warnings might change as I do more chapters. We'll see.Chapter 1: John MurphyChapter 2: Octavia BlakeChapter 3: Nathan Miller





	1. Murphy

**Author's Note:**

> So I was rewatching 'Join Or Die' in season 3, and something occurred to me as I was watching -for the most part, the kids stayed out of the way when Pike went after Murphy. Eventually a few stood up, but it took a while, and even then, they didn't put much effort into it until Miller -looking scared as hell -hit him over the head with the pipe. Hell, even Murphy himself didn't put up much of a fight until Pike actually started choking him.
> 
> So what exactly happened in the Sky Box? How did they take these kids -who were jailed until they were eighteen, no matter their crime -and expect them to turn into good little robots on the Ark?
> 
> This story is the result of that thought process.
> 
> As an added aside, the chapters will be in different formats, depending on what style works for the character of that chapter. Just a heads up. :)

Murphy grimaced as the guards unceremoniously dropped him on his bunk, biting back the yelp of pain that threatened to escape. Mbege watched, silent, and unmoving from the opposite bunk, eyeballing the guards warily, until they left the room.

“Was it worth it?” He asked, his deep voice filling the small room, and bouncing around Murphy’s aching skull.

Murphy started to scoff, stopping midway when even that slight movement sent racks of pain shooting through him. “Stupid question.”

“To you, maybe.”

“ _He_ ran into _me_ ,” Murphy said with a moan of pain, trying to roll onto his side without aggravating his back. “Fuck if I was gonna apologize.”

“Oh yeah; tellin’ him to fuck off was clearly the better option. How many they give you?”

“Twenty-five.”

“And how much longer ‘til you get floated?”

Murphy laughed, the sound turning into a raspy wheezing. “One year, nine months, two weeks, and… three days,” He said after a moment’s thought.

“Keep this up, and you’ll never make it.”

“Yeah, but at least I’ll go out like a badass.”

He pointedly ignored Mbege’s eye roll as he finally gave up on ‘comfortable’, and tried to find a position that didn’t make him want to scream in agony.

Just another day in the Box, as most of the older ones would say. A place where ‘reeducation methods’ consisted of beat-downs, and shock-lashing, food deprivation, and humiliation.

Of course, most kids weren’t pushing for the Ark Record of most beat-downs in a week. The current record holder –or _late_ record holder, as it were –had been floated eight years ago, and still held the title at nineteen in one week.

John was pretty sure he could beat that number –hell, he’d started hitting double digits as soon as he was thrown in the box; knowing that he was gonna be floated, regardless of anything, in five years, and a mouth that didn’t know when to shut up pretty much ensured he was gonna get close to that record.

He just had to put in a bit more effort to break it.

The guard at dinner –or what should have been dinner, Murphy still had two days left of food deprivation before they let him eat –had ran into Murphy as he was standing, then had the balls to demand an apology.

At first, it’d seemed like a God-send; Friday night, one day left to try and beat the record, and he was two punishments off. As it stood, he was at eighteen –closest he’d come yet to actually beating the record. He was already covered in bruises, with a sprained wrist to boot; a few weren't gonna make a difference.

But he didn’t get a beating; the guard had written him up for insubordination –a crime that carried a shock-lashing as punishment. And _that_ was a whole other animal.

His body still twitched, muscles jumping just below the skin, and despite the fact that he was only one – _one_! –punishment away from taking the title, he wasn’t sure if he could force himself to risk another one. Out of all the tools in the Sky Box Guard’s arsenal, the shock-lash was easily the most effective.

“So. You givin’ up?”

Murphy opened his eyes, and forced a grin at the kid who’d been his roommate for three years.

“When I’m this close? C’mon, man, get real,” He said, with a lot more conviction than he felt.


	2. Octavia

_Just keep your head down, and don’t start anything, alright? Just ride out your time, O, and keep your nose clean._

Bellamy’s words seemed to play on a constant, never-ending loop in her head as Octavia went about her day. She paid attention in their classes –one of the few who did –but didn’t volunteer for anything; while a few of the other kids did and became teacher’s pets, Bellamy had told her what happened to ‘teacher’s pets’ at night when no one was around. She took whatever position she could grab in the mess line, making sure to always be behind the groups, or meaner, bigger kids who'd start smashing skulls together if someone tried to cut. When the guards asked her what had happened during a fight, or who'd started what, she just shrugged, and ducked her head.

She kept to herself –easier to avoid getting caught up in the inevitable turf fights over who got what table when, who got to use the good equipment in the gym, or when some lunk-head stepped on another lunk-head’s foot.

Of course, that also meant she didn’t have anybody to fall back on if things went bad with a group, but it’d been relatively smooth sailing for her, all things considered. It was easier to get by when you didn't have anyone else to care about. Oh, Connor beat the hell out of Fox? Makes no never mind to Octavia; she didn't need to step in and help anyone. She kept her nose out of everyone's business, and in return, they all left her alone.

( _Only much later, when she was Heda, would Miller tell her that Bellamy would trade most of his rations, and anything else he could get his hands on, for alcohol and other contraband to pay for her protection inside. That Miller, Murphy, and Mbege had been paid well enough to keep them happily drunk most of the time, to keep everyone away from her. One more thing she'd have to thank Bellamy for if she ever saw him again.)_

A few people –loners, who didn’t really fit in, like her –occasionally grouped up with her. There was that time in Earth Skills when Harper MacIntyre had actually asked to be her partner, or when Sterling gave her a picture of a flower he’d drawn in biology. But for the most part, they avoided her like she avoided them.

She learned ignored the other kids chuckles, their jokes about what she did under the floor, and just put her head down, letting her hair fall in front of her face. It didn’t matter –a one year sentence was all she’d serve, before she’d be free. Two council members, and the Chancellor himself had promised that she’d be ble to join the rest of Ark after her eighteenth birthday.

Of course, they’d told her that after she’d woken up from surgery –surgery they’d drugged her for, and hadn’t told her about –that had made it so she would never be able to have kids. No implants for her –they weren’t taking that risk.

_(Only later, in the Bunker during Praimfaya would she realize why they’d done that –why they’d taken that from her. And as much as she hated the fact that she would never have a family, would never have little Lincolns to love and hold, she finally understood. Why they’d sterilized her, and why her birth was punished the way it was. The worst part about becoming Heda was that she couldn’t just blame Abby, Kane, and Jaha for her life on the Ark anymore.)_

She quickly learned who to avoid, and when the guards were in a giving mood, and when they’d lash people for moving to slow. She learned how to avoid notice, blend in with the scenery, and not cause trouble. She wanted her shot at freedom –something a majority of the kids in the Sky Box would never have. And she was willing to suck up the little bit of pride she had, and take the taunts, the laughs, and the stares. She was willing to have everyone think she was a little slow, if that was what it took to keep her nose clean.

_(And in the end, it didn’t matter anyways –they sent her to Earth along with everyone else, despite their promises, and the fact that she was the only person in the Sky Box not to earn a single infraction against her in her time there. And later, as Heda, she makes it a point to never make a promise that isn’t a threat. Because decisions have to be made, and personal feelings can’t get in the way of that. It’s probably the best lesson she learned in the Sky Box.)_


	3. Nathan Miller

“Well, well, well. Lookie what we got here, boys. Big Miller’s precious little baby boy. Where’s your daddy, Nate?"

Nate grinned up at Dax –who towered above him by four or five inches even when Nate was standing–as he leaned back in his chair.

“Well, let’s see… It’s seven thirty… That means he already patrolled Mecha Station and after that is… Oh, that’s right: screwing your mom! Right on schedule.”

He expected the fist; while nobody would accuse Dax of being smart, he had the muscles of a gorilla, and no issue using them. But because he was so freakin’ predictable, Nate was able to duck to the side just enough to avoid the punch that would have had him seeing stars for a week. And because Dax was strong, but slow as hell, Nate was able to lash out, driving his knee into the bigger kid’s gut, sending him to his knees.

Of course, in all the practice sessions Nate had had with his dad –it was just assumed, after all, that Nate would follow his father into the Guard –practice had ended when one opponent hit the floor.

But the Sky Box wasn’t like the rest of the Ark. In the Sky Box, examples needed to be made.

People had been sizing him up for the better part of a month –hating him for who his daddy was, but afraid to go after him, because of who his daddy was.

_(Joke’s on them though; the Sky Box Guard rotation is considered a punishment –and David Miller was the one who handed out assignments. Good thing most of them were too dumb to realize.)_

There’d been a few sideways glances; a few muttered curses under their breath while he was walking by. And Nate had waited, the anticipation keeping him awake at night, waiting for someone to strike.

Dax had been high on his list of possibilities; the dude was freakin’ violent as hell, and one of only a handful of kids who were in the Sky Box for crimes against people.

Add to it, that David Miller was the one to arrest Dax (rather roughly, if the rumor mill was to be believed), and it put him pretty high up on the list.

And since Dax was a killer, and would have no issue killing him, Nate didn’t even feel a twinge of guilt about driving his booted foot into his ribs again and again.

“Hey!”

“Clear it up!”

“Get out of the way!”

As the guards plowed through the cheering onlookers, Nate made sure to get in one last blow, a particularly vicious kick to the head before one of the guards grabbed him in a choke hold.

“Knew you couldn’t go long without causing problems, Miller,” The guard sneered into his ear, as black spots began to dance in Nate’s vision. “Well, your daddy ain’t here to protect you now, boy.”

Gasping for breath, Nate threw as much of his weight as he could into the elbow he drove into the man’s diaphragm, his vision clearing as the guard lost his grip.

But it was a momentary victory; as two of other guards began beating them with his baton, he had the briefly satisfying thought that, at the very least, he’d made his mark. No one would mess with him after this.

“Enough!”

He dared a peak through his elbows (his hands were still tightly wrapped around his head), and seen Commander Shumway staring down at them from the Guard Platform.

“Twenty lashes, and one week’s solitary. Ration forfeit for three days.”

Eh… it was still mostly worth it.


End file.
